PARIS (Aug. 4, 2024) – Following seven hard-fought contests, the 2024 USA 3x3 Men’s National Team dropped their final match at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and officially concluded their run in France.
Pitted against the Netherlands in their pool play finale, Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis entered the half-court at Place de la Concorde seeded No. 6 in the group stage standings with a 2-4 overall mark.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, boasted a 4-2 record and owned the No. 2 spot in the Olympic hierarchy going into their final pool play bout.
Despite opening with a quick 3-1 burst courtesy of a Travis 2-pointer and Barry layup, the Americans witnessed the Dutch string together a 3-0 spurt off a pair of layups and an alley-oop score. Maddox, the United States’ most dominant interior presence, countered with a 1-point jumper to knot things up at 4 apiece with 7:33 to spare.
From that point on, the Netherlands choreographed a strong offensive performance. Over the ensuing 4 minutes, the crew scored at every level of the court and put together a 17-2 run to close out the contest with 3:27 left on the game clock. Undermanned, the USA men ultimately fell 21-6.
Barry, who accounted for 30 points in his previous two matchups, couldn’t find his rhythm from outside. He finished with 2 tallies while Travis and Maddox both registered 2 points as well.
As a team, the USA men went 4-7 from inside the arch and 1-11 from beyond the 2-point line. The Netherlands, on the other hand, executed on 9 of their 11 inside looks and poured in 5 2-pointers en route to the victory.
“This is just a great group of guys that battled,” USA head coach Joe Lewandowksi said after the game. “They’ve taken our 3x3 program to another level. Just from the way they qualified, coming here [as] the number 1 team in the world [FIBA 3x3 Men’s World Tour], that’s a credit to how much time and effort they put into it.”
From Nov. 1, 2022, to Nov. 1, 2023, the quartet played in virtually every FIBA-sanctioned 3x3 circuit imaginable to qualify for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. By clinching a berth to play in Paris, the quartet made history as USA Basketball’s first 3x3 Men’s National Team to be featured on an Olympic stage.
“They’ve rearranged their lives, rearranged work schedules, rearranged everything you can imagine to get to this point,” Lewandowski said. “They did it.”
The USA men will depart from France as the first 3x3 platoon to claim a victory with three men and zero substitutions after losing Fredette to a tournament-ending left leg injury on the first day of the competition. Fueled by 30 points from Barry, they did so twice against France and China on Aug. 2.
“These guys found a way to win with three guys in the biggest, toughest tournament in the world,” Lewandowski added. “That’s a credit to them. That’s the first time in Olympic history any team has won with three players, and they did it twice.”
While the foursome conclude their run without an opportunity to medal, the ensemble will rally to encourage Cierra Burdick, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard and Hailey Van Lith during the women's semifinal run on Monday.
“Now our job is to flip around and root for the women, help them get a gold,” Lewandowski said. “That’s what this is about. We support each other.”